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Modern slaves are everywhere: car washes, factories and farms

Two centuries after it was abolished in Britain slavery is a huge trade that is flourishing and hiding in plain sight

Fiona Hamilton, Crime Editor

August 11 2017, 12:01am, The Times

Male victims can commonly be found working in car washes, while many women and children are sexually exploitedRichard Pohle/The Times

A parallel society exists in modern Britain in which a “sub-current of vulnerable people” are routinely exploited as modern slaves by ruthless gangs, the National Crime Agency said yesterday.

Will Kerr, the director of vulnerabilities at the NCA, said it was abhorrent that the practice was thriving in many areas of Britain, where slavery was ostensibly abolished more than 200 years ago.

Victims of exploitation were often hiding in plain sight, Mr Kerr said. They could be nextdoor neighbours secretly trafficked into servitude, the chatty women working at the nail bar, the men washing cars at the local garage. He called on members of the public to look for the signs of modern slavery and urged them to report concerns to police.